Cloud Monday - Death Stranding - Part 2 - Cinematics And Save Limitations Make It Hard To Recommend

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Death Stranding via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In part 1, https://youtu.be/4-ih2i8MSrY, i was surprised how, at first glance, Death Stranding looked like it was going to be a good fit as a game to stream from the cloud. But after playing more in Part 2, it became harder to recommend it.

The first surprise last week were the manual saves. But in this part, 2 things came up which kinda ruined it. the first was that when you can save manually, there are limitations on when you can. In this video i was up against BT's and i thought i would save before dealing with the situation. But the game wouldn't let me save. I showed that the game doesn't tell me when the last Auto Save was or where it would load me back if i were to load another save. I had to trust the game that if i died, it was fine. Then later there was another limitation in our apartment when the control scheme of the game changed. before, i could just press the "Options" button and access the save menu from System. But in our apartment, that didn't work. the first time there i didn't know what to do and continued playing, it's a big reason why this video is much longer. When we were back in there  the second time i had an idea about looking for a console and whether that was replacing it. I found one and yes, that's where you save. But the game never told us this and now i don't know if there'll be more changes and limitations further into the game.

In Part 1, it was evident that the game was going to use long cinematic cutscenes and cinematic effects during gameplay, in both parts this can be seen when music starts playing. Personally, i don't mind these and was enjoying the story being told to me. the problem that arose more in this part is how the break-up of the video being streamed to us from the cloud can detract somewhat from the cinematic effect. Whilst these didn't happen often and were very short, they are easily seen. they story being told isn't affected and i heard everything. but it's how it affects the presentation of the story that's the issue, it's a large part of this game.

It's not all negative about playing Death Stranding in the cloud. For those who have played the game before and know the story, playing it in the cloud is a great fit. For those, like me, using the first version of the PS4, streaming the game in the cloud is a great experience because the PS4 fans are very quiet. a game that pushes the hardware hard like Death Stranding can really ramp up the fans and detract from the audible experience of playing the game. But during both parts, my fans were quiet and i got into the atmosphere of the game from the sounds and soundtrack.

But not everyone has played it and not everyone listens to the music and sounds when playing. so, all together, it's more difficult to recommend Death Stranding as a game to be played in the cloud. for most, downloading it onto the PS4/Pro and PS5 would be a better solution. But i would argue that streaming it is a good way to try it out first and then you could decide to download it or not.

Cloud Monday - Death Stranding - Part 1 - Good Cloud Game With Skippable Cutscenes And Manual Saves

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of Death Stranding via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

This game is a bit of an enigma. it's not new, and yet the podcasts i listen to haven't spoiled the story. many haven't really explained what you do in the game beyond the simple delivering and building routes. I do know that it's fairly cinematic with a decent amount of cutscenes so i was very curious as to how it would work as a game being played from the cloud.

In this video, the connection to the cloud does get rough a couple of times. in the first half, there were a couple of moments when we got a very brief bit of Stream Tearing, where grey appears on screen. the second half got a little rougher with more Stream Tearing and a couple of instances of Macro Blocking. Overall, it didn't get in the way of gameplay, but they were noticeable because of how good and real world the game looks.

Very early on it was clear that there are a lot of cinematics. i saw no suggestion of an autosave which isn't reassuring. you can press Option and end the cutscene, but if it's your first time like it is for me then that's not an option you want to take. The issue with skipping, so far with just Part 1, is that there doesn't seem to be an option anywhere to watch the skipped cutscene. 

PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is a platform that will only give you a 20 second heads up before they terminate the connection. with the cutscenes being skippable it's good but what's great is that there is a manual save option when pressing Option. The save is fast, too. So the game does have ways around the limitations of the platforms.

But if i'm unable to catch up with cutscenes and the story that's told, then it may not be the best way to play the game for the first time. There are still things in-game that i don't have access to so it might be possible that option does exist. But for now, playing Death Stranding in the Cloud is a decent option.

Cloud Monday - Resistance: Retribution - Part 2 - The Streaming Experience Is Better Than The Game

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution  via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I have this game on #PlayStationPortable but it's been a very long time since i last played it. Playing Part 1, https://youtu.be/jEs97ouESk8, felt nostalgic but it was a different experience for me as i played it on the PSP rather than on TV using the Dual Shock 3 on PSP option. The only way to make that work well was to adjust the controller speed and overall it felt more difficult and intense than you would've expected for the start of the game.

Knowing that, i did think that part 2 was easier. not just that i had adjusted the controls to make it easier to play, but also it felt like the level design got a little easier. Still, it continued to be an intense experience with game design that made me wonder if this was a PS2 game that got switched to the PS3 because of how much of a console experience it felt like not just in levels design but also with how infrequent the auto save is and how long some sequences are.

Streaming it tho continued to be a great experience. If this was just the PSP game, i wouldn't recommend it. but because it's been ported to the PS4 and got manual saves and rewinds, it's something i can recommend. in this video there was a moment where the stream quality dipped and i got the connection warning but i didn't panic as i could use the manual save and quickly did so. 

So this still comes to down the game itself. like last week, streaming it from the cloud to us is great but is the game itself worth playing. across both parts there have been more technological issues with the game than streaming issues. with the controls being as bad as they are, this basic port makes a bad first impression and i wonder if they could've done more like automatically setting the control options faster. If you're a fan of Resistance, then this is the best way and easiest way to play this game. in that case it's easy to recommend. but i wouldn't recommend this game for people if this is their first Resistance game. I probably wouldn't recommend this to causal shooter fans either. But, personally, i am glad this does exist on PS4 and hope that it'll be further fixed and improved.

Cloud Monday - Resistance: Retribution - Part 1 - Adjust Controller Speeds To Make It More Playable

This week's Cloud Monday video is part1 of playing the PS4 version of the PSP game Resistance: Retribution  via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I have this game on PlayStation Portable but it's been a very long time since i last played it. I don't remember much of it on PSP so i was eager to play it again. But i was also curious if this game, being designed around the portable nature and limited battery life of a handheld, would also share game design qualities that would make it a good game to stream from the cloud. 

It does and it doesn't is the simple answer. As a PSP game, it doesn't work well being streamed from the cloud for many reasons. the cutscenes are very long and numerous, the auto save is very infrequent, and there appear to be no manual saves. these don't work well on a service that can kick you off with just a 20 second warning.

But it does work because it's a PS4 and PS5 game. the upgrades the game has received isn't just to the graphics, but Resistance: Retribution now gets access to a rewind feature and manual saves. I showed numerous times that there was no issue using the rewind feature, and when the connection got rough and the warning appeared i was able to very quickly do a manual save from the PS4 game rather than from in side the PSP game.

So, if it's a game that's a great choice to play in the cloud the question then becomes is it a game worth playing. That's tough because Resistance: Retribution has a few issues. this PS4 and PS5 version has already received a patch and needs a few more as it's rough in places. what stood out the most was how out of sync the audio seemed. whether it was the voices, sound effects, or even the cutscenes, at times it didn't match what was happening on screen. then there are other technical issues like screen tearing. As a PSP game, it has another issue regarding the controls. it was a game that could be controlled via a Dual Shock 3 (PS3 controller) and that's how it's played on PS4 and PS5. but the controls are very slow and heavy and really need to be adjusted much faster. The in-game tutorials haven't been adjusted for this either so there was some real trial and error learning how to control it.

With all this learnt in Part 1, part 2 will be interesting as i can focus more on the streaming experience and hopefully play around some of the quirks of the game and this port. 

Cloud Monday - Tales of Arise - Part 2 - A Good RPG To Stream From The Cloud

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS4 version of Tales of Arise via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

In Part 1,https://youtu.be/9O7-F5v3kF0, we quickly learned about the auto save and how quickly we were able to manual save. 2 important pluses for a service that can give you a 20 second warning before it disconnects you. In Part 2, we learn at the beginning that the game keeps 2 autosaves! This is a big win for people using the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming platform as it provides comfort as if you're unable to save before you're disconnected, there's a high chance the game has saved itself.

Playing the game itself also continued to be fun. i do enjoy how the game uses different methods to tell it's story. after this part, i felt i liked the comic book style method more than in Part 1. A nice little touch was that the game makes it clear when you have or haven't talked to someone. Plus, you're able to stack side quests. so you can chat with everyone in a village, collect all their sidequests, and set out and do them all. This also works for a cloud game. For example, if you're playing during a stable period you can collect all the sidequests and talk with everyone, save, and now it doesn't matter as much if you're disconnected when compared with tackling each quest at a time.

Like Part 1, there were very brief moments of Stream Tearing, where grey appears on screen most likely due to a frame of video arriving incomplete. the controls also felt sharp and i couldn't feel any lag from them. If anything was holding the game back it's the fact this is the PS4 version of the game. there was texture pop-in, loading, and the world and characters just lacked the finer detail.

Tales of Arise is not only an RPG i would recommend people play via PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service, it's also just a good game to play. it does look great on PS4 and the loading doesn't feel too bad. So i imagine it'll be better on PS4 Pro or PS5. Whilst playing it, i noted how it reminded me of Final Fantasy X in a positive way. I'm personally curious about the story and the rest of the game so i may continue it in my own time.

Cloud Monday - Tales of Arise - Part 1 - Manual And Auto Saves Are A Great For A Cloud Based Game

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing the PS4 version of Tales of Arise via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.

I had previously looked at another BANDAI NAMCO RPG to see how it worked as a game played in the cloud, but across Part 1 https://youtu.be/z4pOFUlwWsg and Part 2 https://youtu.be/japHcD6uFlA it was clear that Scarlet Nexus wasn't designed with the cloud in mind. the biggest issue that game had was that you could only save at specific points, there were no auto saves and no manual saves. it worked out that there was about 20-30 minutes between the save points in the first couple of hours of the game.

Tales of Arise is a newer game and i was really curious if it was designed with the cloud in mind or if it followed the formula in Scarlet Nexus as that game seemed to have been a success. Tales of Arise is a game i had heard a lot of good things about across videos and Podcasts, but i couldn't remember anyone talking specifically about it's suitability as a game being played in the cloud.

i can say that yes, there are auto saves and there are manual saves. it takes a few minutes before we get access to the menu and manual saves, but the auto save seems to be fairly regular. Saving itself is also really quick. the only issue that i can see playing this game in the cloud is the large amount of cutscenes, whether that's the anime style ones or the comic books ones. there is a lot of story and the game tells it fairly quickly and often in Part 1. If i were to get the dreaded 20 second warning before i was disconnected, there's a good chance i would have to skip a cutscene or two and therefore some of the game's story.

I had a good time in Part 1. it's refreshing how successfully Tales of Arise incorporated anime style animation from the beginning so when it's used later it's not jarring. the comic book style tho uses in-game graphics and it doesn't look that great. i think i understand why they did it as it's typically used when characters are just standing and talking to each other. it's a different way to show a conversation between characters. The only criticism i have with the anime style is that it's perhaps a little too different to the art style used in the game. The #PS5 version could be a bit closer, but i doubt it as characters look a little too different.

Graphically, i don't think the game runs at 1080p but it looks like it does. it does lack the finer details but often it's not an issue because the art and design of the game make up for it. the coloring throughout is impressive. The PS4 does let it down a little with textures sometimes taking longer to load. there were a couple of instances where the game had finished with a story beat, given us control, and then finished loading in the textures.

This isn't an issue with streaming the game from the cloud. the only issue i noticed was screen tearing. this is when grey appears on the screen. often it appears for less than a second, but because it's grey it sticks out soo much and is very noticeable. I didn't notice any lag controlling the game and it managed the transitions from gameplay to animation without any issues. So combing these positives and the great saving features, Tales of Arise looks to be one of the better RPGS to play in the cloud.

Cloud Monday - Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Part 2 - Decent Cloud Gaming Experience

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Square Enix's Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PS4.

With Part 1, https://youtu.be/2O-V6qgzcrw, i began to understand the game's quirks so in this part, i was able to focus more on the experience of playing this game in the cloud. We had already seen in Part 1 that the game does a lot of auto saving in the background which is great. it means if we're going to be disconnected from the PlayStation Plus Cloud Game Streaming Service then we won't have lost too much progress in the game. With Part 2 it also became clear that the manual save points at this point in the game are also strategically placed before big, story moments or significant points in your progress through a section. this once more highlights that if you are kicked off the service, the amount of progress loss shouldn't be too significant.

Playing this on PlayStation 4 is both good and bad. the obvious bad part is the graphical quality. there were more than a few points where i could see how low resolution or how little detail elements of the levels were. from that point of view, it would be easy to recommend that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin should be played on a PS5. but this helps with the game being streamed via the cloud because it means the impact to the game from things such as macro blocking isn't too significant. it'll be somewhat easy to see, but it shouldn't detract too much from the overall gameplay experience as there isn't always too much finer detail on PS4 anyway.

Ultimately, a game being decently well designed to be played via the cloud won't be enough for some players. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has it's fair share of quirks and frustrations as a game itself. thankfully, with streaming being an option, it can act as a decent demo of the game and what to expect. but i would recommend giving it a couple of hours like i did to play through what felt like a tutorial heavy introduction to the game.

Cloud Monday - Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Part 1 - Useful Frequent Auto-Saves

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Square Enix's Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PS4.

Even tho this is a somewhat recent release, it has been in development for a long time, probably so long that it originally wasn't set for PS5. So i was wondering how this game's design would work if it was streamed from the cloud to me. For example, would it have a traditional save system like Scarlet Nexus did and thus be a poor choice because of how the save system works or would it have a more "casual" approach letting you save everywhere, like Disgaea D3 did. turns out it's both.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has fixed save points in the environment and this isn't great for a game being streamed via PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service as there's only a 20 second warning before you're kicked off it. However, the game does appear to have an Auto-Save system that is frequently saving in the background. The Auto-Saves appear to be the same as a manual save, but the whole system is shrouded in mystery as we, the player, get no choice as to what save slot is used. both the manual and auto saves just save. Ultimately, the positive is that we will probably loose some progress but in the end not too much.

The quest you have to ask yourself is are you willing to replay bits of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin again. Even after this first part, i'm not excited to go back because of how clunky the whole thing is. the tutorial is bad, the controls have issues, the story is nonsense so far, and graphically playing it in performance mode makes everything look so soft it might as well be PS3 graphics. 

One interesting issue the game has that is streaming related is that the in-game cutscenes are visually stunning and full of intricate small details that the bandwidth being used to stream this to me from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service is having a hard time to keep up. A little early on there's a moment when the camera is spinning around the main character in a field of wheat and things stop being highly detailed and crisp and instead go a little blurry. i say in the video it's like the bandwidth needed is just a little short for sequences such as that, whereas for the rest of the game it's fine.

Cloud Monday - Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Part 2 - Side Quests Are Weird In A Known Story

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. I streamed this game, developed by, CyberConnect2, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

I was concerned last time that getting the game to work might be a one off, but i was wrong. once again, the game started for the first time when i wanted to play it. it's a welcomed surprise and i may check out some of the other games that refused to work.

A lot of what i said in part 1, https://youtu.be/_IdUPMR6gTE, are true in this part. but the thing that stuck out the most was actually doing side quests. If, like me, you're familiar with the story of Dragon Ball Z then the idea of doing side quests is strange as it's hard to imagine how they'd fit them into the game. the stuff in part 1 worked well as a tutorial and was before Dragon Ball Z started. In this part, the side quest on the island also work because the story hadn't kicked off.

But having to save Gohan or do a side quest just felt wrong. at this point in the game i was Goku and my son had been stolen by Raditz, so naturally my response is to go and save Gohan. it's what happens in Dragon Ball Z and it's the natural thing to do. but to have the map open up a bit and for there to be side quests just didn't feel right. i tried to do one but abandoned it to continue the story.

This game is a little difficult to review. on one hand it's got pretty good game design to be streamed from the cloud to my PS4. there are some story moments hard to skip, but for the most part it works as a cloud streaming game and in that respect it's better than quite a lot in this series. But on the other hand, it's a weird game in that i don't know who's it's audience. People who like and know Dragon Ball Z already know this story. if this game was just this story then i'd understand why they'd want to play it. but the addition of social connections, RPG elements, and side quests feel more like bloat than a useful addition. so perhaps this is aimed at those who want a different type of RPG or who recognise Goku but don't know the story.

Cloud Monday - Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Part 1 - Good Game Design For Streaming, Unsure For Playing

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. I streamed this game, developed by, CyberConnect2, via the #PlayStationPlus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a game i've been trying to stream for a while now. I try it each week, and since it came to PlayStation Plus it's never worked. Until now! I was really surprised and very unprepared for it, i've been saying for a long time that i couldn't get it to work and, at least this one time, it did.

My thinking behind trying this game is that it's slower pace might make it more suitable for it being streamed. i had hoped that, as a RPG, we'd be able to save more frequently. And it looks like we can. the game also has a decent auto save feature that seemed to be fairly active. so in comparison to Scarlet Nexus, i was more confident that i could either manually save, hit an auto save, or get to a save point in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot than Scarlet Nexus.

A welcome bonus is how big and simple the characters are on screen. they look very much like their anime counterparts, so when there was some macroblocking i was still able to work out what was happening and wasn't really hampered. this is a great looking game and it feels like you're playing in the anime. so when there is macroblocking or stream tearing, it takes you out of the experience, more than anything else, because it looks so much like what it's based on.

But, whilst there are many positives about the game design and how suitable it is for being streamed from the cloud i can't ignore how other parts of it weren't great for actually playing. In, nearly, every section of this first part there was something that i found annoying or something that made the game less accessible. 

The way it introduces anything new with tutorial cards of screen is simply lazy and something i'll always complain about. it's something that's not that accessible to new players. i'd expect the cards if i was looking for a reminder on how to do something. They have Goku and Gohan at the start, Goku could simply be telling Gohan the basics of fighting and that could've been out introduction. The way they introduce the social aspect of this game is also baffling and a part of the game i didn't know about.

The controls were often slightly worse than i expected, for example the dash is super fast and difficult to use or when you're on Nimbus and there are collectable orbs but you have to seemingly touch them to collect them but that's difficult because Nimbus is slightly more difficult to control than expected. Also, why  can i collect items from afar but not these orbs?

Maybe in part 2 there'll be more context for everything and with more practice things will improve. but as it's been near impossible to play this game just once i'm not sure if/when Part 2 may be.

Cloud Monday - Cloudpunk - Good Game To Stream From PlayStation Plus But Unclear Saves Are An Issue

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing Cloudpunk. I streamed this game, developed by Ion Lands, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

In part 1, https://youtu.be/o3KbvReYduI, i had a great experience streaming the game from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service. there were the occasional hiccups throughout my time with the game but nothing that seriously impacted my time and my enjoyment of the game. they were simply noticeable.

For the most part, that continued into this part 2. I felt no lag in the controls and the streaming issues we had didn't get in the way of gameplay nor my enjoyment of it. But there were more noticeable streaming artifacts than in part 1. there were Stream Tears, where grey appears on screen, and it felt like there were bit rates drops, where the video looked like "1080p" but not too detailed. 

A lot of the games design, intentional or not, helps mitigate the issues i had streaming the game from PlayStation. Most, if not all, of the conversations in the game are voiced and also have subtitles, if you don't accidentally hide them,  so if there is macro blocking and the text becomes illegible, then you can listen to what's happening. If the bit rate or resolution drops, you can slow down or stop. most of the game so far is us delivery items in our vehicle but these don't go fast and we don't move fast when walking so i never felt like i was headed to a crash. and i could simply stop and wait for things to get better. So for these reasons, and more, i do recommend this game as something that's streamable from PlayStation Plus and that it's a good game in general.

But...it's unclear when the game saves. And in a game that's being streamed to us on a service that can kick us off with just a 20 second warning, it's a little frustrating. I ended this video not knowing when the last save was, would i have to talk to the Coffee Man again or was the save when i landed. i don't know. The game has some other small issues like a so-so tutorial that i can work my through. But this save issue is big enough to give me pause and it's something i must add when i recommend this game, 'cause i do recommend it.

Cloud Monday - Cloudpunk - Unclear Checkpoints And Auto-Saves Bring Unwanted Anxiety

This week's Cloud Monday video is is on Cloudpunk. I streamed this game, developed by Ion Lands, via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service on my launch model Japanese PS4.

Going in to this game, i didn't know much about it. over the years i had heard this and that about it so i knew that it was something like a taxi/delivery game with lots of talking. but the specifics were unclear. But one of the reasons for choosing a "Cyberpunk" style game is whether or not the aesthetics of it would hold up being streamed to my PlayStation 4.

For the most part, streaming the game from the cloud doesn't affect the aesthetics of the game. the biggest issue the game has in this regard is with the PS4. the draw distance isn't too far so there is a lot of pop-in. it's hard to get a sense of scale, the fully grasp the whole world, when it's popping in as you drive along. But what you do get to see is some amazing voxel art and some huge buildings.

As the game uses varying sizes of voxels, i never really had an issue with how it looked or with things not being clear due to issues with the streaming. in the video, there was some macro blocking, some stream tears, some small hiccups, but in all these instances i still could understand the world. thankfully, these all happened in the car so it's possible out on foot it could be a little bit more of a distraction. the only issue i had with the cloud stream was an instance where macro-blocking made reading what a character was saying difficult.

Once again, it was the game itself that provided the biggest issue. In this video, i was unable to save my game, nor was i able to workout if the game is auto saving or checkpointing. I'll find out when i start Part 2 next week, but it genuinely adds a bit of anxiety to the experience because if there is an issue with streaming a game from PlayStation Plus, there's only a 20 second warning. I have no idea when the last save was, so i have no idea how much progress is about to be lost. The game's pace is slow and that works well with it being streamed, but that works against it if a lot of progress is about to be lost.

As a streaming experience, i do recommend it. But that comes with a huge asterix over the saving and checkpointing that i won't know the answer to until the second part of this series.

Online Saturday - Redout 2 - It Feels Incomplete, Has A Bad Tutorial, And The Online Is Tacked On

Welcome to Online Saturday.

For today's video i'm trying the PS4 version of Redout 2 from 34BigThings. I have the original Redout game, also on PlayStation 4, but i haven't played that in many years. But i have pleasant memories from playing it. Redout 2 has recently come to PlayStation Plus so i was keen to try it as i'm still enjoying racing games at the moment. 

I'll be upfront about my feelings after playing this game, i do not recommend it. frankly, it feels like an unfinished early access game with modes tacked on. Even as a free PlayStation Plus download, it borders on a waste of time when there are far more games out there to play.

It starts with a cinematic that looks a little weird, like it's a lower resolution that the rest of the game. i wonder if the disc version of the game has a higher resolution cinematic than this. It tells some story before panning the camera behind our vehicle, then there's a lurch, maybe for a frame or two, as the graphics ramp up and we're into the tutorial. It does work well and it is exciting, but this tutorial is at full speed and adds a level of anxiety as it feels like there's not enough time to read the prompt and do it as the vehicle is still racing on the track. as we race there's an unprompted speed boost that slams us into the wall and then another prompt for strafing that also puts us into the wall as we try it.

The tutorials don't get any better. there's even an instance near the end of the video where a prompt appears just as the track loses a side wall. so in the process of reading the prompt on our screen we race straight off the track. as for the rest of the tutorials, they are more like telling us how to do something without explaining what the expected result or next step is. one that frustrated me was the rewind feature as it told us how to enter it, then gave no further explanations for all the buttons that appeared on the screen. 

A weird thing about the tutorials is that you don't need to finish them to unlock unranked multiplayer. i found it frustrating that i had to go into multiplayer to find out i can't do multiplayer, but at least it said what the requirement was to unlock unranked mode. so that's what i did, and then in multiplayer i had situations where prompts came up on the screen that i didn't fully understand. it wasn't until i went back to finish the tutorial that they were explained. I understand why multiplayer was locked, but i don't understand why it was unlocked before the tutorial we finished. that one decision made gave me negative impressions of both modes.

At best i can call the multiplayer tacked on. there is just 1 mode. Ranked mode, like a couple of other modes, is "Coming Soon". but it's almost unbelievably basic. all i can do is select unranked and wait. there's no lobby, no region, no course select, nothing. all i can do is wait and join when it's found a match. and over about half an hour to forty minutes, i only found 1 match. and even then the other racer DNF'd. after the race the messaging is unclear, as there's no tutorial or prompts or text boxes, and you're dumped back to the home screen when you leave multiplayer. i didn't want to leave it, i wanted to race again.

This whole "Coming Soon" debacle is why this game feels incomplete, almost like it's in early access. it's not just the ranked multiplayer, but even on the home screen there are two other modes with "Coming Soon" on them, "Season Challenge" and "Community". it's hard to believe that DLC came out for this game before these modes did. there's no date on them when they're coming, no information as to what they are either. Why even use up space on the home screen advertising some features that are coming later. that should be off to the side, with information about what they are and when they're coming. it's not even clear if they're DLC or a patch. The three "Coming Soon" features and not really there multiplayer really do make this game feel incomplete. i could even say that with a tutorial this bad, that also adds to it.

It's a graphically nice game, but i'm not entirely convinced the racing is that good. the tracks are great, they're interesting and the world around them is also impressive. the vehicles are unique and each one looks different. it's cool how you can parts, too. But the vehicles don't work well on the tracks, or the tracks aren't suited to the vehicles. the tracks don't feel designed well enough for the handling of the vehicles. It could be a speed thing, like maybe the vehicles are too fast.

Overall, i can't recommend Redout 2. even as a free to download game on PlayStation Plus, it's hard to recommend as ultimately it borders as just being a waste of time. I'm even starting to wonder if the first game was actually good or not. it's been soo long since i played it that maybe my memory is wrong.

Cloud Monday - Matterfall - Part 2 - It’s Good To Stream From The Cloud But It’s Not As Fun To Play

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing #Matterfall, a #PS4 game from #Housemarque that came out in 2017. In the first video, https://youtu.be/rj3-onwTwrk, Matterfall did well being streamed from the #PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service. But we always play the games twice so we can get a better idea of the average streaming quality.

So in this part 2, it actually was a little worse being streamed from the cloud than in part 1. there wasn't nothing too serious, but there was some minor macro blocking, what appeared to be some bit-rate drops, and some stream tearing. whilst these were noticeable, none of these got in the way of my gameplay.

The thing that got in the way of the gameplay was the game itself. i stopped playing the game because i stopped having fun with it. there's no denying that the game is good to look at, but i found it not as great to play. It's a shame as the game is good to be streamed from the cloud because of how frequent the checkpoints are and that it doesn't mind if you die. So whilst i can recommend the game as one that's suitable to be played from the cloud, i don't think i can recommend the game as strongly as something that should be played.

Cloud Monday - Matterfall - Part 1 - Cloud Streaming Copes OK With All The Particles On Screen

This week's Cloud Monday video is part 1 of playing Matterfall, a PS4 game from Housemarque that came out in 2017. I wanted to see how this game would hold up being streamed from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming as it has a lot of particles that, on services like YouTube, can appear to be blocky rather than the fine points of detail they are.

And for the most part, the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service was able to cope with the, at times excessive, amounts of particles on screen at a time. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that when the quality did drop and things got a bit blocky it wasn't too noticeable and not for very long.

The game has a mechanic that makes it a good choice to be streamed from the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Service. we know, and have seen, that the service will give you a 20 second warning when it'll kick you off. thankfully, Matterfall has, mostly regular, checkpoints. this means that you're either not too far from reaching one or haven't progressed far since your last one. because of this, i wasn't worried about loosing progress and felt relaxed continuing on. 

Whilst streaming it is fine, the game itself has it's own quirks that will take time to get used to. the one that annoyed me throughout the video was the control scheme. i feel like i never truly mastered it. the focus is on the R1 and L1 buttons and using them in combination and it's just something i've not really done in games. the other thing i mention a few times is how our weapon feels so weak right from the beginning. Hopefully i'll get more familiar with it in part 2, but for now this does make it more difficult whether or not to recommend the game 'cause on one hand it's game design means it's a great choice to stream but on the other hand it's gameplay feels lacking.

Cloud Monday - Cursed to Golf - Part 2 - A Good Game To Play From The Cloud

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing Cursed to Golf, a game from Chuhai Labs, on #PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service.

In the first video, https://youtu.be/vP5cDfpa8ek, i had issues with the game, rather than streaming it from PlayStation Plus Premium. Knowing that things like button prompts are going to be an issues, i went into part 2 hoping for things to go a little smoother. and for the most part they do. Once again this game streams mostly fine from PlayStation Plus Premium. There is the occasional hiccup, but nothing that interferes with gameplay and rarely is it noticeable. 

But what i've learned from playing this game is that i'm not good at it. i tried to not let that cloud my judgement as the point of Cloud Monday is not how good the game is, rather it's how good the game is as a streaming game. In my opinion its one of the better games for streaming due mostly because of how frequent it saves. But the point of the game seems to be try and try again. It's not a big issue if you fail, the game wants you to learn, to practice, and to try again.

I do think that the game has some minor issues throughout, things that kinda got annoying across the two videos. So, for me it's not a game i will continue to play. it does have a lot of good points, like the graphics, the animations, and of course the soundtrack. Those are good enough that i would recommend people try it from PlayStation Plus Premium. 

Cloud Monday - Cursed to Golf - Part 1 - Frustrated By Wrong Button Prompts

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing Cursed to Golf, a game from Chuhai Labs, on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service.

I chose to play this game as, even tho i don't play nor watch Golf, i'm surprisingly interested in new gameplay mechanics of Golf. for example, I did a video on RPGolf, https://youtu.be/s0g33alW1Go, which also has a fun RPG take on golf. I was disappointed by the game play mechanics, but a huge issue for me was that the on screen button prompts never matched what my controller did. This was a huge barrier and there's a section where it want's me to stop a ball and i couldn't. i ended up smashing all the face buttons and it worked. But this was hugely frustrating and it did sour my experience with the game.

I was a little annoyed that practice wasn't a tutorial, but thankfully the game does ask when you start the story if you want to do the tutorial. But i actually failed the tutorial and was confused when the game just let start. i would've thought that it would've asked if i wanted to try again. so by this point i had failed practice and failed the tutorial and was worried this game was going to be really difficult. thankfully i did manage to complete a couple of holes by the end of the video.

So whilst i was having trouble with the game, streaming it from PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming was fine. i'd go so far as to say it was perfect. i never saw any streaming issues and controlling the game was fine, too! the game also appears to save after every hole, so if there is an issue at most you'll lose just one hole. Granted, these aren't your typical golf courses so it could take a bit of time to complete them. I don't think it's a big issue as the game seems built around playing the courses a few times and optimising them.

Cloud Monday - Rogue Legacy 2 - Part 1 - Enable Super Inputs For A Better Experience.

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing the newly released Rogue Legacy 2 on PlayStation Plus Premium.

I have played and completed, tho not platinumed, the original game on PS3 and was looking forward to playing the sequel. i know on PC the game was released in early access and built upon until it got it's release. So i had high expectations.

I feel that it mostly met them. it looks amazing and at it's core is the original game that i had soo much fun with. but there's soo much more added content and added accessibility. i also appreciate that it's honest and clearly explains what the options do and some of the negatives of those options.

The only issue i can't work out is whether the controller lag is the game, playing it via the cloud, or a combination of both. it was almost instantly noticeable from the beginning, enough that i had to go into the options and turn on  Enable Super Inputs. whilst this instantly made the game feel better to play, it did add screen tearing and it was noticeable. 

As for streaming, the first few minutes were a little rough with an occasional Macroblocking issue and Stream Tearing. but the rest of the game afterwards was very solid and i'd say i had no further issues with it.

Cloud Monday - Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness - More PlayStation Plus Premium Perfect Streaming

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness on my launch Japanese PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service.

In the first video, https://youtu.be/4acBC6x5XXI, as well as enjoying the game i would go so far as to say the streaming experience from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming was perfect. it had been a while since i played a game with little to no streaming issues so at the time there was a sense of relief, too.

This second video continues that trend. once again i noticed no issues streaming the game and, in both videos, there were moments when i forgot that i was playing this PS3 game on a PS4 as i was so engrossed in playing it. 

It's a hard game, but if it's a style of RPG or if you're a fan of the series, there is a way to play the game just like you had the disc. unfortunately in this video i forgot to do the speed test, but over both days playing the game i'm comfortable in saying that it's one of the highlights i've had streaming games from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Service.

Cloud Monday - Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness - Story, Tutorials, And Perfect Cloud Streaming

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service.

the only Disgaea game i've played is Disgaea 3 and that was on PlayStation Vita a long time ago. But i still remember roughly what it was about and the style of gameplay. for me, going into Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness i had an idea what it could be whilst also having no clue. thankfully, the game has an amazing tutorial that slowly and assuredly reintroduced me into the world of Disgaea.

I'm not positive where on the Disgaea timeline this game sits, but it felt like it took place after Disgaea 3. the characters and story seemed to match what i remembered of that game. here, the story did feel a little much. Like, they needed to quickly tell the story of what came as well as begin the story of this game. so really, in the 50 minutes i played, i didn't learn much about the story of this game. thankfully, there's a part 2 next week where i'm sure the game will move on from the world's past and focus more on it's own story.

And streaming it from PlayStation Plus Premium went perfectly. it's a very rare thing, more so when you compare the quality of this stream with previous videos. things had been rough recently but then there's this game and it's perfect. All i can think of is that maybe because it's a PS3 game, it requires less bandwidth than some of the PS4 games i've been playing. the speed check seemed normal and comparable to the previous videos so i don't think that has anything to do with it.